{"id":2320,"date":"2012-08-22T06:19:43","date_gmt":"2012-08-22T06:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/?p=2320"},"modified":"2012-08-23T06:32:48","modified_gmt":"2012-08-23T06:32:48","slug":"isabels-skin-by-peter-benson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/?p=2320","title":{"rendered":"Isabel\u2019s Skin by Peter Benson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Published by Alma 30 August 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

250pp, hardback, \u00a314.99<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reviewed by Caroline Sanderson<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like Peter Benson\u2019s writing. I loved his tender and evocative debut novel The Levels<\/em> and so did many others. It won the 1987 Guardian Fiction Prize, and he went on to write more award-winning novels.<\/p>\n

Twenty-five years on and his work has lost none of its power to create thick atmosphere and a palpable sense of place. In his latest novel, a young book-valuer, David Morris \u2013 thoughtlessly content with his life in Edwardian London – is sent to darkest Somerset to value the library of the deceased Lord Buff-Orpington, in a set-up that recalls the ghost stories of Susan Hill. The book collection is a revelation, but a growing feeling of dread pervades his task, particularly after Morris encounters the sinister figure of Professor Richard Hunt whilst out walking, and catches the awful sight of a woman imprisoned in his house, which resounds with her screams at an unknown agony.<\/p>\n

It is hard to fault Benson\u2019s ability to unwind the intrigue of a character, nor his talent for creating unease. With the moon \u2018swollen\u2019, the wood \u2018a rash across the side of the hill\u2019, and the tops of the trees \u2018gashing the skyline\u2019,\u00a0 Morris mounts a genuinely nail-biting rescue bid, only to uncover the inhuman scientific horror that has been wreaked upon the woman called Isabel.<\/p>\n

Now for fear of spoiling I can\u2019t reveal what this horror is, except to say that it should be skin-crawlingly foul; and its discovery a nauseating shock. It isn\u2019t. It\u2019s not that the atrocity is unconvincing in itself: the scientific explanation holds water, and we are left in little doubt that Isabel is in hideous pain from her transformation.\u00a0 This is no ghost story, and therefore plausibility shouldn\u2019t be an issue. But it all feels faintly preposterous, particularly with a final plot twist that is bathetic rather than arresting.\u00a0 It\u2019s as if, having so carefully crafted all the elements of a horror story \u2013 the cries of curlews, marshes, black trees, and a dark, castellated mansion – Benson couldn\u2019t go through with the gothic. And for a writer of such long-standing talent, that\u2019s a pity.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Caroline Sanderson<\/p>\n

It is hard to fault Benson\u2019s ability to unwind the intrigue of a character, nor his talent for creating unease. With the moon \u2018swollen\u2019, the wood \u2018a rash across the side of the hill\u2019, and the tops of the trees \u2018gashing the skyline\u2019, Morris mounts a genuinely nail-biting rescue bid, only to uncover the inhuman scientific horror that has been wreaked upon the woman called Isabel.[…] in Reviews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-fiction-and-non-fiction","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2320"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2325,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320\/revisions\/2325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}